Rabaul Caldera, Papua New Guinea

The low-lying Rabaul caldera on the tip of the Gazelle Peninsula at the NE end of New Britain forms a broad sheltered harbor utilized by what was the island's largest city prior to a major eruption in 1994. The outer flanks of the 688-m-high asymmetrical pyroclastic shield volcano are formed by thick pyroclastic-flow deposits. The 8 x 14 km caldera is widely breached on the east, where its floor is flooded by Blanche Bay and was formed about 1400 years ago. An earlier caldera-forming eruption about 7100 years ago is now considered to have originated from Tavui caldera, offshore to the north. Three small stratovolcanoes lie outside the northern and NE caldera rims of Rabaul. Post-caldera eruptions built basaltic-to-dacitic pyroclastic cones on the caldera floor near the NE and western caldera walls. Several of these, including Vulcan cone, which was formed during a large eruption in 1878, have produced major explosive activity during historical time. A powerful explosive eruption in 1994 occurred simultaneously from Vulcan and Tavurvur volcanoes and forced the temporary abandonment of Rabaul city. (description courtesy of the USGS)

Space Shuttle (STS-64) photo of Rabaul volcanic cloud taken on September 19, 1994Photo Courtesy of NASA.

The eruption of Rabaul was probably the most important eruption of 1994. Certainly the eruption
did more damage than any in nearly a decade. Large portions of the town of Rabaul
were destroyed by ash from the eruption. Just what happened at Rabaul?

Rabaul, the town, is inside Rabaul, an 8 x 14 km (~5 x 9 mile) wide caldera
that is mostly filled by Blanche Bay, an arm of the ocean. Its pretty
dangerous to have a town inside of a volcano, but there have been no
eruptions there for 51 years.

Photo by Wally Johnson, 1969 (Australia Bureau of Mineral Resources).

The city of Rabual is seen here in 1969 during more tranquil times. The low-lying Rabaul caldera forms a sheltered harbor once utilized by New Britain's largest city. A powerful explosive eruption in 1994 forced its abandonment. The 8 x 14 km caldera is widely breached on the east, where its floor is flooded by Blanche Bay. Two major Holocene caldera-forming eruptions took place as recently as 3500 and 1400 years ago. Several post-caldera cones, including Tavurvur, the bare cone on the right horizon, have erupted during historical time.

On the morning of September 19, 1994, two volcanic cones - Vulcan and
Tavurvur - began erupting on the opposite side of the harbour from the town.
By 10:30 AM an airplane pilot reported that the ash cloud was 15-18 km
(9-11 miles) above Rabaul. Other estimates placed the top of the cloud as
high as 30 km (~18 miles). This was a powerful eruption!

Ash fell all over the town and satellite photographs showed an ash cloud
carrying volcanic dust westward over much of New Guinea. The ash that fell
over the town was first reported to be 20-25 cm (8-10 inches) deep, and it
later was as much as 75 cm deep (about two feet). Heavy rains turned the ash
into mud that fianlly dried to be nearly as hard as cement. The roofs of many
buildings collapsed from the weight of the ash.

A small lava flow came from a vent near Tavurvur and flowed slowly for about
25 days. Also, some of the clouds of ash eruptions collapsed back on
themselves and a mixture of ash and gases flowed rapidly down the side of the
volcanoes and out into the bay. Such ash and gas mixtures are called
pyroclastic flows. Pyro is a Greek work for fire, and clastic is Greek for
broken pieces of rock. Some of the ash and pyroclastic flows made floating
rafts of pumice.

The eruptions declined in strength, and by Oct. 2, Vulcan was no longer
erupting; Tavurvur continued throughout October and November.

Despite the great danger of this eruption, only five people died; four from
collapses of roofs, and one person was struck by lightning. The reason so few
people were hurt is that volcanologists at Rabaul had been expecting an
eruption someday. They had educated the people of Rabaul to the dangers of
volcanic eruptions and even practiced eruption drills - sort of like fire
drills in a school. When intense earthquakes started the night before the
eruption, the volcanologists and government officials evacuated nearly all of
the town people before the eruption started. This was a tremendous success
for science, for that night and the next few days, nearly 50,000 people were
removed from a place of great danger to safety. Rabaul did not become a great
tragedy, but was a great triumph!

General geologic features at Rabaul based on Greene and others (1986) and Heming (1974).

Click
here to learn more about the Rabaul Caldera.
Click
here to learn more about the 1994 Rabaul eruption.